| 释义 |
▪ I. gipsy, gypsy, n.|ˈdʒɪpsɪ|
Pl. gipsies, gypsies. Forms: α. 6 gipcyan, gip-, gyptian, -sion, (jeptyon, -syon), gipson, -sen. β. 7 gypsey, -ee, 7–8 gypsie, 8–9 gipsey, 9- gypsy, 7– gipsy; pl. 7 gypsees, -ties, 9 gipseys, 7– gypsies, gipsies.
[The early form gipcyan is aphetic for Egyptian (B. 2); the change to gipsy may be due to influence of the suff. -y3, or perh. of L. ægyptius. Skelton (a 1529) has ‘By Mary Gipcy’, by St. Mary of Egypt.
From the quotations collected for the dictionary, the prevalent spelling of late years appears to have been gipsy. The plural gypsies is not uncommon, but the corresponding form in the sing. seems to have been generally avoided, prob. because of the awkward appearance of the repetition of y.]
1. a. A member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Hindu origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and was then believed to have come from Egypt.
They have a dark tawny skin and black hair. They make a living by basket-making, horse-dealing, fortune-telling, etc.; and have been usually objects of suspicion from their nomadic life and habits. Their language (called Romany) is a greatly corrupted dialect of Hindi, with large admixture of words from various European langs.
α [1514see Egyptian B. 2.] 1537Ld. Cromwell in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 101 The Kings Maiestie, about a twelfmoneth past, gave a pardonne to a company of lewde personnes within this realme calling themselves Gipcyans, for a most shamfull and detestable murder. 1589Nashe Martins Months Minde 32 Hee wandring..in the manner of a Gipson..was taken, and trust vp for a roge. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 86 Or like a gipsen, or a Iuggeler.
β1600Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iii. 16 Both in a tune like two gipsies on a horse. a1641Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. 232 Like our canting rogues or Gypties. Ibid. 519 Gypsies. 1642Milton Apol. Smect. (1851) 305, I perceave him to be more ignorant in his art of divining then any Gipsy. 1711Addison Spect. No. 130 ⁋1 We saw at a little Distance from us a Troop of Gipsies. 1722Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iii. 170 She was put to lodge one night among a great company of gypsies. 1837Howitt Rur. Life iii. i. (1862) 182 The true gipsies are readily distinguished by their..jet-black hair, black sparkling eyes, Indian complexions, and their genuine oriental language. 1875–7Ruskin Morn. in Florence (1883) 165 The gipsy who is mending the old schoolmistress's kettle on the grass.
¶ Allusively identified with Egyptian.
1607Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xii. 28 Oh this false Soule of Egypt!.. Like a right Gypsie hath at fast and loose Beguil'd me. 1615W. Hull Mirr. Maiestie 60 In this Gypsy [Pharaoh's daughter], the wife of Salomon.
b. Gipsy language, Romany.
1800W. Whiter (title) Etymologicon Magnum..with illustrations drawn from various languages:..Sanscrit, Gipsey, Coptic, etc. 1841Borrow Zincali i. ii. 53 We have found this beautiful metaphor both in Gypsy and Spanish. 1875Smart & Crofton Dial. Eng. Gypsies 276 Tell me, old fellow, what the sun is in Gypsy. Ibid., I see you know plenty of Gypsy, and I dare say you know more words than any of us. 1930J. Sampson Wind on Heath x. 277 (heading) One Use Of Gypsy.
2. transf.
†a. A cunning rogue. Obs.
1627E. F. Hist. Edw. II (1680) 88 This Overture being come to the Queens ear, and withal the knowledge how this Gipsie [Spenser] had marshall'd his cunning practice,..she seem'd wondrously well-pleas'd. a1635Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 30 Beware of the Gipsie, meaning Leicester, for he will be too hard for you all.
b. A contemptuous term for a woman, as being cunning, deceitful, fickle, or the like; a ‘baggage’, ‘hussy’, etc. In more recent use merely playful, and applied esp. to a brunette.
1632Shirley Love in a Maze iv. 51 Yon. I heard You court another Mistris, that did answer it with entertainment. Thor. She was a very Gipsie. You were no sooner parted, but she us'd me Basely. 1673Kirkman Unlucky Cit. 165 Cursing her [his Mother-in-law] for a dissembling hypocritical Gypsie. 1682N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 14 Thus did the Gypsey flutter up and down Through City, Country, Village, and good Town. 1709E. W. Life Donna Rosina 60 The cunning Gipsy, pretending she did not understand his meaning, returned him a civil Answer. a1721Prior Dutch Proverb, A slave I am to Clara's eyes: The gipsy knows her power, and flies. 1790Moreton W. Ind. Isl. 127 Keep your employer's bosom-gipsy modestly at a distance [The reference is to a coloured mistress]. 1828Moncrieff Tom & Jerry i. vi, Confound the little gipsey, she has fairly given us the slip, by Jupiter. [1858Geo. Eliot Janet's Repent. vii, ‘I've a capital idea, Gypsey!’ (that was his name for his dark-eyed wife when he was in an extraordinarily good humour).]
c. U.S. slang. (See quots.)
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §766/6 Gypsy, an out-of-town truck with no terminal in its destination city. 1954Ibid. (ed. 2) §765/5 Gipsy, an independent truckman. Ibid. §766/6 Gipsy, an independently owned truck. 1967Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. A. 36/1 The primary violators among truck drivers are the so-called ‘gypsies’ who operate independently.
3. Short for gipsy-bonnet, -hat, -moth, -winch (see 6).
1808–25Jamieson, Gipsy, a woman's cap, or mutch, plaited on the back of the head. 1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 431 Liparis dispar. The Gipsy. 1823J. F. Cooper Pioneers xli, Concealing her raven hair under her gipsy. 1869E. Newman Brit. Moths 37 The caterpillar of the Gipsy has the ground-colour black. 1889Century Dict., Gipsy 4. Naut. a small winch or crab used on board ship; same as gipsy-winch.
4. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as gipsy-encampment, gipsy-fair, gipsy-prediction.
b. appositive, as gipsy-boy, gipsy-brat, gipsy-devil, gipsy-Jewess, gipsy-lassie, gipsy-man, gipsy-mountebank, gipsy-musician, gipsy-wench.
c. instrumental, as gipsy-ridden ppl. a. Also gipsy-like adj. and adv., gipsy-looking adj., gipsy-wise adv.
1807Crabbe Hall of Just. i. 56 When first I loved—the *Gipsy-Boy.
1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 150 Two bundles of rags with a *gipsy brat in each of them.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal 272 Conjecture did attribute it [the sound] to magick: and this *gypsie-devil continued this trick till the coming of our Saviour.
1830Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) II. 88 The ‘Scottish History’..looks like that of a *gipsy encampment.
1881Freeman Sk. Venice 57 The traveller who comes on the right day may come in for a *gipsy fair at Duino.
1693Dryden Juvenal Sat. vi. (1697) 153 A *Gypsie Jewess whispers in your Ear, And begs an Alms.
1840Longfellow Sp. Stud. iii. v, God send the *Gypsy lassie here, And not the Gypsy man.
1651Randolph, etc. Hey for Honesty i. i, Troth, and he may tell you your fortune, *Gypsie-like, and all out of your pockets too. 1652Wharton Ded. to Rothomanne's Chirom., The Rarity of the Subject, and the Gipsy-like Esteem it hath amongst the Vulgar [etc.]. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 610 The heath was fringed by a wild gipsy-like camp of vast extent.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 20, I never saw any one who so much reminded me in person of..Meg Merrilies..as dark, as *gipsy-looking.
1840*Gipsy man [see Gipsy Lassie].
1677R. Cary Palæol. Chron. ii. i. xx. 145 Those..*Gipsie Mountebank Assertors of Tradition.
1886W. J. Tucker E. Europe 219 How is it that those ragged *gipsy musicians don't wash themselves?
1849De Quincey Eng. Mailcoach Wks. 1862 IV. 295 Some *gipsy prediction in his childhood.
1727De Foe Syst. Magic iii. (1840) 62 The whole world, or great part of it, has been *gipsey-ridden by them, even to this day.
a1627Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy iv. i, Our *Gipsie Wenches are not common.
1895Daily News 12 Dec. 6/2 Setting forth on his travels *gipsy-wise.
5. attrib. passing into adj. Resembling what is customary among or characteristic of gipsies; often applied to open-air meals or pic-nics, as gipsy breakfast, gipsy dinner, gipsy party, etc.
c1630Donne Serm. lxxxv. (1649) II. 34 Never ask wrangling Controverters that make Gypsie-knots of Mariages;—ask thy Conscience and that will tell thee that thou wast maried till death should depart you. 1654Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 89, I had a gipsie visit of a mother and her children, bag and baggage. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. 22 The delusive, gypsey predictions of a ‘right to choose our governors’. 1816Jane Austen Emma III. vi. 87 There is to be no form or parade—a sort of gipsy party. 1838Lytton Alice ii. ii, Getting up an impromptu dance or a gipsy dinner. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 46 With gipsy talent they foretell How Miss Duquesne will marry well. a1845Hood To St. Swithin vi, Why spoil a Gipsy party at their tea, By throwing your cold water upon hot? 1849E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa II. 294 This little gipsy tent, weighing about twenty pounds..is about three feet high. 1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 34 We set about preparing our gipsy breakfast.
6. Special combs.: gipsy-bonnet, a woman's hat or bonnet with large side-flaps; gipsy-flower, the wild scabious; gipsy-gold (see quot.); gipsy-greyhound, some species of greyhound; gipsy-hat = gipsy-bonnet; gipsy-herb = gipsy-wort; gipsy-herring, the pilchard; gipsy-moth, Ocneria dispar; gipsy-onions (see quot.); gipsy-ring (see quot.); gipsy-rose, the wild and garden scabious (Scabiosa arvensis and atropurpurea); gipsy('s) pig, the hedgehog; gipsy('s) pork, the flesh of the hedgehog; gipsy-straw, straw for making gipsy-bonnets; gipsy's warning, a cryptic or sinister warning; gipsy table, a light round table supported on three crossed sticks; gipsy-winch (see quot.); gipsy-wort, modern book-name for Lycopus europæus (and for the whole genus).
1855Tennyson Maud i. xx. 1 The frock and *gipsy bonnet.
1620Markham Farew. Husb. viii. 60 The weeds which are most incident thereunto, are..Thistles, Hare-bottles and *Gipsie flowers.
1883Jefferies in Longm. Mag. June 189 Red sorrel spires..stand the boldest, and in their numbers threaten the buttercups. To these in the distance they give the *gipsy-gold tint—the reflection of fire on plates of the precious metal.
1695Lond. Gaz. No. 3082/4 Lost or stolen..a small blue *Gipsy Grayhound, 16 Inches high.
1805Emily Clark Banks of Douro III. 325 She..tied on a white chip *gipsy-hat. 1827Hone Every-day Bk. II. 190 The woman [has] a gipsy-hat jerked up behind.
1727C. Threlkeld Synops. Stirp. Hib. G 2 b, Some call this [Water-horehound] the *Gipsy-herb, because those stroling Cheats called Gipsies do dye themselves of a blackish Hue with the Juice of this Plant.
1803Walker in Prize Ess. Highland Soc. Scotl. II. 271 The pilchard..is known among our fishers by the name of the *gipsey herring. 1883Daily News 7 Sept. 2/1 A stranger..might imagine that the great shoals of ‘gipsy herrings’ had already arrived.
1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 246 Liparis dispar (*gipsy moth). 1882Kirby Europ. Butterflies & Moths 110 Ocneria Dispar (Gipsy Moth). 1897Bailey Princ. Fruit-growing 24 The codlin-moth, Hessian-fly, gipsy-moth, and a score of other pests.
1847–78Halliwell *Gipsy-onions, wild garlic.
1928Sunday Disp. 2 Sept. 3/3 ‘Gypsy Pork.’ Hedgehogs are succulent this month. September is the month when the ‘gypsies' pig’ is plump and tender.
1880Brewer Reader's Handbk. (1885) 385/1 *Gipsey Ring, a flat gold ring, with stones let into it, at given distances. So called because the stones were originally Egyptian pebbles—that is, agate and jasper. 1892Black Three Feathers 220 The purchasing of a gipsy-ring.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 97 Wild scabious, or, as the country people call it, the *gipsy-rose!
1795Hull Advertiser 29 Aug. 3/1 Fashions for August. Bonnet of cottage *gypsey straw.
1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am vii, The middle-aged lady..with a lamp and a work-basket on the *gipsy table before her.
1918–19T. Eaton & Co. Catal. 369/2 Vocal records... The *Gipsy's Warning (Tenor). 1923W. J. Locke Moordius & Co. viii. 113 Bid him beware of Peter Moordius... The gipsy's second warning. 1928D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club xi. 126 ‘What price the gipsy's warning now?’ said Lord Peter. 1941‘P. Wentworth’ Danger Point (1942) xvi. 100, I expect Robson's got you taped... And that being so, suppose you listen to the gypsy's warning. 1967A. Christie Endless Night xiii. 112 ‘You'll have to fend for yourself.’ ‘Cut out the gipsy's warning, Santonix,’ I said.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Gipsy-winch, a small winch having a drum, ratchet, and pawl, and attachable to a post.
1786Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 2) I. 19 Lycopus, *gypsie-wort. 1854S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 297 The lycopus, or gipsy-wort, is said to derive its English name from being employed by the wandering tribe to stain their skins of a dark colour.
Hence gipsiˈologist, gipsyˈologist (rare), one who makes a special study of gipsies (also gipsologist); ˈgipsyhood, gipsydom; ˈgipsyish a., somewhat gipsy-like; ˈgipsyless a., free from gipsies; ˈgipsyness, gipsy-like appearance or character; ˈgipsyry, a gipsy encampment.
1863Chambers's Encycl. V. 172/1 The facile princeps of all *Gypsologists is Professor Pott of Halle. 1875F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) XX. 116/2 We are not certain that the observation of Gypsyologists has been sufficiently accurate to leave no room for doubt on this head. 1894Athenæum 6 Oct. 454/2 ‘Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts’ should find many readers outside the small company of gipsiologists. 1885Ibid. 18 July 78 So accomplished a gipsologist..must know that Meg Merrilies as a gipsy is entirely a fancy portrait.
18..Whittier Yankee Gypsies Prose Wks. 1889 I. 342 It has been said..that their ancestors were indeed a veritable importation of English *gypsyhood.
1890Athenæum 4 Oct. 441/2 Valentine is both handsome and piquant in her *gipsyish way. 1894Harper's Mag. Jan. 277/1 Painters..are proverbially gypsyish in their habits.
1826Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 436 We have stocks in the village, and a treadmill in the next town; and therefore we go *gipsyless.
1874Helps Ivan De Biron v. ii. 263 They had been pleased and amused at the *gypsyness, as they had called it, which had always been visible in Azra's costume.
1874Borrow Romano Lavo-Lil 251 What may be called the grand Metropolitan *Gypsyry is on the Surrey side of the Thames. 1882Leland Gypsies 362 Near the city [Philadelphia] are three distinct gypsyries.
▪ II. gipsy, v.|ˈdʒɪpsɪ|
[f. the n.]
intr. To live or act like gipsies, esp. to have meals in the open air, to picnic. Chiefly used in gerund and pres. pple.
a1627Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy iv. i, For so well I love you That I in pitty of this Trade of Gipsying..offer you A state to settle you..so I may call you My Husband. 1834W. Ind. Sketch Bk. II. 184 An occasional marooning, or gipsying party. c1840Ransford Song, In the days when we went gipsying, A long time ago. 1847Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xlix. (1879) 418 As cold weather came..he could no longer go on with his gipsying mode of life. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxv. 249 The whole nation is gypsying with us upon the icy meadows. 1860Emerson Cond. Life ii. 61 Hunting lion..in South Africa; gipsying with Borrow in Spain and Algiers. 1887F. Francis Jr. Saddle & Mocassin i. 20 It is a delightful climate there in summer, and a glorious country for gipsying. 1890Sat. Rev. 13 Sept. 327/1 Buy a dozen ash rods, a pine ridge-pole, and some red blankets, and set forth gipsying and to gipsy.
b. quasi-trans. to gipsy away: to filch, steal.
1886Sir F. Doyle Remin. 98 Besides gipsying away a good many lines, he quietly conveyed Macaulay's notes, totidem verbis, into his manuscript. |